Halal Food in Tokyo: Halal Shabu-shabu at Hanasakaji-San

Guys, let me admit this first: I had no idea what shabu-shabu was before this, nor had I heard of it. But now that I know what it is (and, also, my doctor recently told me to up my iron game), I declare myself a personal advocate of genuine shabu-shabu.

Maybe 'advocate' is too strong of a word here hmmm. A personal supporter of genuine shabu-shabu, then. (Note: Steamboat and shabu-shabu are not the same. I refuse to accept they're the same.)

Halal beef and chicken are really hard to find in restaurants around Tokyo. Good thing is, Shah and I LOVE seafood so we don't have too much of a problem when it comes to eating outside. Japan is, after all, almost like headquarter of World Fresh Seafood. But there's only so much raw salmon and fatty tuna I could consume—I was starting to crave for some good ol' red meat.

And Hanasakaji-San is just the place to go for that in Tokyo.

The gloriousness of red meat

OK, turned out I wasn't that sick of seafood after all, because, SCALLOPSSS. And I'm a sucker for tempura

Hanasakaji-San (some spell it as Hanasaka Jiisan, which is the title of a Japanese fairytale) isn't exclusively a halal restaurant but they seem to have gone out of their way to make halal dining experience there as comfortable as possible, like:

• keeping the halal meat in a separate freezer from the non-halal meat
• dedicating plates and utensils for halal dining and separated from non-halal food servings
• providing the latest appropriate certificates to prove their halal status

But you know what matters the most? The food. Is. YUM. Shah and I enjoyed the food immensely.

 Flavoured salts? YUM.

 More beef. More please.

Don't know how to "shabu-shabu"? I can't remember the last time I had to learn how to eat, but the cutest uncle in Hanasakaji-San was incredibly helpful and gave us a crash course on shabu-shabu.

Uncle was like "Shabu-shabuuu... Changing cah-larhhh!"

Seriously, those were his exact words.

Yasssssss shabu-shabu-ing myself! After that, dip those babies in sesame sauce and they're good to go (as in they're good to go into your tummy)

The spread

Hanasakaji-San serves non-alcoholic red wine, white wine and champagne on their menu, not even kidding. Seriously, all non-alcoholic. We ordered the non-alcoholic "red wine" and I must say, if the real red wine tastes anything like what I tasted, it is confirmed that I am not missing out on life. 

The characters in Cougar Town already hate me, don't they?

Happy tummy, happy life. Am I right?

The ambience is pretty nice, with dim lights and classy, easy setting.

Happy faces and happy tummies all around later that night:

Me and my Shibuya 109 goodies (Shah came straight from the office, me came straight from the shopping)

Rough instructions on how to get to Hanasakaji-San ("rough" because my giving-direction prowess is not the best):
The restaurant is only about 5 minutes walk from Metro Shibuya Station, so fret not. When you arrive at Shibuya station, upon leaving your train, look for the South Exit. Upon exiting from the South Exit, head towards the West Exit side of the station.
Wait, first I said South Exit, then I mentioned West Exit, so you must all be extremely confused right now, aren't you? Because that's how I felt when I read someone else's instructions. So I have this picture from my iPhone to accompany the confusion:

The white arrow indicates the exit you should head to right after you leave your train, which is the South Exit. After you insert your train ticket into the slot and walk pass the barrier at the South Exit, turn left towards the West Exit direction (the one that I've circled, see?) and walk straight out. Does that help?
You will come out from the station and see buses and bus stops, and on your left is a designated smoking area and a staircase to a footbridge. Climb up the stairs and walk straight, and I mean straight all the way. You will reach a stairs-pitchfork, where you can descend down a stairs on your left and on the right is a footpath. You don't want to go left or right, you want to go straight and descend down the stairs in front of you.
Once you're down the stairs, you should see the blue-and-green Family Mart on your right, but not that that matters too much because you're not going to go there. No, you're just going to walk straight ahead.

 Just walk straiggghhhtttt

until you see this white tall-ish building on the left and the Granbell hotel on the right.

You're there!

 The entrance

Just go down the stairs and get ready for your genuine, aunthentic shabu-shabu experience!

It is best to call in advance and book a place as they need extra time to prepare the halal meat. The place might look nondescript from the outside but it can get fully-booked on certain nights, so do reserve a place early on, regardless if you're after the halal meat or not.

For more information, visit their website: hanasakaji-san.jp

If you find this post helpful, and if this post helps you get to Hanasakaji-San in any way (my post tempt you to go / my directions actually got you there etc. etc.) do leave a comment down below—I would really appreciate it!

Extra note: Hanasaka Jiisan is a Japanese fairy tale that teaches people to not ever be greedy, which is ironic considering how I felt after taking my first bite of shabu-shabu goodness. You can Wiki the name Hanasaka Jiisan and read the story there.